The present invention relates to forming or placing bags of polyethylene or similar heat-sealable material about garments arranged on conventional hangers. More specifically, the invention pertains to novel methods and apparatus for bagging hanger supported garments wherein the bags are closed at the sides and at both the upper and lower ends.
Many forms of apparatus have been proposed for bagging hanger-held garments in heat sealable polyethylene bags. In a popular type of such apparatus, the bags are formed by drawing the open end of a continuous web of the material, supplied in tubular form, over the hanger and garment until the latter is completely covered and then sealing and cutting the web above the hanger with the hook end extending through the sealed end of the bag. The operation may be carried out in manual, semi automatic or fully automatic fashion.
While the lower end of the bag, i.e., the end opposite that through which the hanger extends, is usually left open, it is often desirable to close the bag on all sides in order to provide more complete protection for the garment. Certain types of bagging apparatus, e.g., that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,480, have been provided with means for sealing both ends of individual bags formed from a continuous roll of tubular stock about a hanger-held garment. However, as a practical matter, such means must be built into the apparatus at the time it is constructed and cannot conveniently be added at a later time. Furthermore, since the bottom sealing mechanism operates in conjunction with the rest of the bagging apparatus, it is necessary that the lower ends of all bags formed on such apparatus be sealed, although in some instances it may be unnecessary or undesirable to close the lower end. Also, such bottom sealing apparatus cannot conveniently be incorporated in bagging machines wherein the hanger is supported on the upper end of a pole since the bagging material surrounds the pole as well as the garment until the hanger is removed from the pole. Thus, it is difficult or impractical to incorporate bottom sealing means directly with one of the most popular forms of garment bagging apparatus.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for bagging hanger-held garments wherein the garment is enclosed in a bag sealed at both ends, with the bag initially being placed over the garment and sealed only at the end through which the hanger extends on any conventional bagging apparatus.
A further object is to provide a method of bagging garments suspended from hangers in a fully automated sequence of steps resulting in a bag completely enclosing the garment and closed at both ends as well as the sides.
Another object is to provide novel and improved apparatus for closing the lower end of a heat sealable bag which covers a hanger-supported garment with the hook end of the hanger extending through the sealed upper end of the bag.
A still further object is to provide apparatus of the aforementioned type with fully automatic operation including feeding hanger-held, bagged garments to the bottom sealer, effecting closure of the lower end below the lowest portion of the garment, and ejecting the garment and fully closed bag to a pick-up station.
Still another object is to provide apparatus having unique means for automatically sealing the end of a heat sealable unique means for automatically sealing the end of a heat sealable bag which covers a hanger-held garment at a predetermined location between the lowest portion of the garment and the edge of the bag.
Other objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.